Answers
by Arvada2
Summary: Dr. House has an interesting encounter with an pediatric patient at the hospital.


The heavy leather watch on House's left wrist told him that Wilson should be just starting his rounds, but House needed a consult and didn't feel like waiting. Cancer was a long-shot in this particular case, but it had to be ruled out for certain before the team could move on, and Wilson had a useful habit of inadvertently leading House to the correct answer anyway.

House made light work of going through Wilson's agenda, and then gimped over to the oncology ward as quickly as he could. His friend's first stop would have been room 226, a seventeen-year-old who had just been admitted today, but as House rounded the corner he could see through the glass walls that Wilson had already moved on. The kid was alone in the room, sitting up and watching something on a portable DVD player.

The question now was whether to head directly to the next patient's room or to try to head Wilson off outsider a later one. House exhaled heavily in annoyance at being too late, and decided that a timeline was necessary. Chemo Kid was still plenty healthy to handle a bit of interrogation, so House slid the glass door open with his cane and moved a few feet into the room. The boy glanced up from his DVD player at the intrusion.

"I'm Dr. House. Dr. James Wilson was recently in here, right?"

Chemo Kid's look of confusion dissipated and he readily answered. "Yeah, he explained everything. My parents are just down in the cafeteria eating. They'll be back in a while if you need to talk to them about something." He gave a quick, polite smile and then turned his attention back to whatever he was watching, some action movie judging by the loud music and frequent _oofs_ issuing from the speakers.

"How long ago did Dr. Wilson leave?" House asked.

"I'm not sure... Ten, fifteen minutes?"

Hm, best to try to cut Wilson off, then. House told the kid good luck with the whole cancer thing and then made to leave the room, but a crescendo in the music and shouting from the DVD player made him pause. He could hear an Eastern Asian influence in the music, but it was heavier, more bombastic. Curiosity overcame him and he blurted out, "What the hell are you watching?"

The boy in the bed was clearly puzzled by this entire interview, but his eyes lit up a little and he smiled slightly as he answered. "It's called _Avatar: the Last Airbender_, it's a cartoon on Nickelodeon. It's a really good show."

House considered this for a moment, and then said, "I'll be the judge of that." What the hell, his patient wasn't in any _immediate_ danger. He limped over to the bed and drew up a chair next to it with his cane before sitting down and stretching out. Chemo Kid gamely angled the player so that House could see it too. "Weren't you looking for Dr. Wilson?"

"Excellent point; I like the way you think. _NURSE_! Come quick!" The boy jumped at House's shout and a nurse dashed into the room, looking utterly ready to tackle whatever emergency she would need to face. Once she registered that there was nothing really wrong, though, she put her hands on her hips and testily asked, "_What_?"

"This poor, sickly youth has some urgent questions for Dr. Wilson. Would you please page him and have him stop by to put the child's mind at ease?"

This particular nurse was familiar with House and his antics and had long ago decided that it wasn't worth the effort it took to circumvent his shenanigans, so she merely rolled her eyes, nodded, and walked back out the door.

Before Chemo Kid could open his mouth again, House said, "Don't worry, Wilson just forgot his lunch money this morning. Now shhh, I'm trying to watch."

House wasn't going to rush out and buy the DVDs or anything, but the program seemed interesting. He was more familiar with karate than the kung fu the characters were imitating, but it still brought back memories of his time in Japan: going to the dojo with his friends and practicing various kata, trying to get a feel for the art. He'd done his best, but he'd never really been any good; at fourteen he was simply too frenetic to master the discipline necessary to be good, and the lack of danger or competition bored him a bit.

House indulged himself for a moment, recalling with mixed emotions a time when he actually enjoyed being sore from exertion, before he turned his attention back to the boy's DVD player. Once the fight scene was over and the dialogue started up, House's interest waned quickly.

"What's that kid's problem?" he asked.

"Which kid?"

House pointed. "That kid, the one with the ponytail! He's the bad guy right?"

"Mm-hmm, at this point anyway. It's complicated."

"Whatever. He's totally lame. Less with the bitching, more with the world domination. What's his deal?"

Chemo Kid paused, considering the best way to explain. "Well, you kinda have to cut him a little slack. He pretends he doesn't care, but he's actually really self-conscious about that scar, because reminds him about a lot of failures in his life. Plus, his dad's, like, the world's most humongous asshole, _and_ he's not getting any at this point in the show. He's a jerk right now, but he ends up alright later on."

House opened his mouth to issue a retort, but nothing came out, so he closed it again and cocked his head in thought. "Sooo... not so much with the world domination?"

"That's his psycho sister's job. She shows up next season."

House contemplated this all for a moment longer before saying, "None of that means he's _not_ an obnoxious jerk, though. Besides, what do you know; you're way too old to be watching cartoons."

The boy laughed. "You're too old to be playing hide-and-go-seek in a hospital, but that doesn't seem to stop you," he said.

"Kid, you're _never_ too old for a game of hide-and-go... because hiding when someone's looking for you in the logical thing... Oh, damn. It's been hiding this whole time! _Damn_." House stood up suddenly and limped to the doorway as fast as he could while talking to the kid over his shoulder. "Make up something to ask Wilson, would you? I have to go save my patient's life."

The boy watched House leave and thought briefly about how wrong he'd been to assume he'd be bored in the hospital. He shrugged to himself and decided to start the next episode. It would undoubtedly be interrupted as well, but he'd seen it many times before, and familiarity and predictability sounded comforting. He settled himself deeper into the bed as the opening voice-over began, and waited for the next person to run into his room.


End file.
